179: Carpet-style material collection

Soon, Zheng Haoyu and Qiu Qian arrived.

Tian Ming looked up at them and said, "Prepare to start our plan. Zheng Haoyu, half of the Special Operations Group will conduct reconnaissance. Report any zombies immediately to me. Qiu Qian, you and your brother are responsible for arranging material transport. We will depart in one hour, starting at 9 AM daily and finishing at 4 PM."

"Yes, Boss," Zheng Haoyu and Qiu Qian responded in unison.

"Good, let's begin," Tian Ming stood up. They would start from outside the city, conducting a carpet-style search.

This would be an extremely massive undertaking, as the entire Donghai City spans 17,652 square kilometers and is a modern metropolis.

Tian Ming planned to use a flat-push method, clearing out all buildings, streets, and basements, directly extracting any usable elements. All city resources would be provided to the Shelter. He always believed that great effort yields miracles.

The Shelter's gate opened, and hundreds of transport vehicles drove out in a mighty procession. Over three hundred people from the Materials Group were almost entirely mobilized, and Qiu Wuhui, who had previously branched out, temporarily returned with his team.

Everyone was on the city's outskirts; this collection team was larger than ever before.

A large temporary base station was set up, establishing a local communication network. Tian Ming touched his earphone and said, "Everyone in the Materials Group, move all usable items from inside any buildings you encounter back to the Shelter. Demolish the buildings. Work in groups of three. You can handle regular zombies yourselves. I will handle mutated zombies. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Boss!" the Materials Group members responded.

Tian Ming nodded slightly and continued, "Special Operations Group, except for half of you staying to guard the home base, everyone else follow me. Qiu Wuhui, lead your team to scout the city's outskirts. Remember, if you encounter mutated zombies inside a building, prioritize eliminating them. If you can't, retreat quickly and report to me."

"Yes, Boss!" the Special Operations Group members responded.

"Alright, let's go!" Tian Ming said, then drove his car, leading the Materials Group into the city.

The entire Donghai City had become a dead city during the Apocalypse. This time, Tian Ming planned to adopt a clear-out strategy, collecting materials in a carpet-style search, first filling the Shelter's supplies. Such a grand operation would likely attract zombies, which would allow him to eliminate them along the way.

The Materials Group members dispersed, forming groups of three, each group responsible for one direction. They would enter buildings to search for materials, moving everything they could.

As for building demolition, Tian Ming personally took action. Steel and iron elements were directly extracted from the buildings, forming iron ingots, each weighing five kilograms. These ingots were loaded onto vehicles and transported back to the Shelter. The buildings, deprived of their steel skeletons, instantly collapsed into a pile of ruins.

As long as the entire city was leveled, Tian Ming didn't believe these zombies would have anywhere to hide.

However, the workload was truly immense. Even just demolishing and transporting all usable elements from the buildings in Donghai City would be an enormous task. Just transporting iron ingots by vehicle alone was already overwhelming.

Tian Ming constructed a helipad, clearing a large flat area in a few minutes. Air transport was mainly for food. For building materials, he built a circular track directly beside the road leading to the Shelter, connecting it with large mining carts to prioritize the transport of essential building materials for the Shelter.

Everything was available in the city. Concrete, for example, Tian Ming could reverse-transform into cement and then transport it back with mining carts.

Work was proceeding with great enthusiasm and a grand scale here. Such a large commotion could not have gone unnoticed by the Corpse Kings in the city. On the third day, news came from the Special Operations Group that large numbers of zombies were beginning to gather in the eastern city area.

A smile appeared on Tian Ming's lips. He synthesized thousands of potent bombs, took them, and flew directly above the eastern city area, unleashing a torrent.

The bombs exploded continuously within the dense zombie hordes, instantly clearing a large area. A large section of buildings also collapsed. If not for the Shelter being too close to the city, Tian Ming would have wanted to drop a mushroom cloud, but he immediately dismissed that idea. First, his control range was only a dozen meters, making it easy to blow himself up and very difficult to control. Second, there would still be survivors in the city, and these survivors would be a vital force for the Shelter's future construction.

In three days, with the circular mining carts, vehicle transport, and aerial transport, tens of thousands of tons of building materials like cement and rebar, and thousands of tons of various foods, were transported to the Shelter.

Tian Ming was very satisfied with the current progress. He believed that if they continued at this rate, it wouldn't be long before the Corpse Kings in the city couldn't sit still. Tian Ming was somewhat anticipating whether his massive actions would force that mysterious woman to reappear.

Under Tian Ming's personal protection, the Shelter's Materials Group worked with great enthusiasm, clearing out materials building by building in a carpet-style search. Whether useful or not, everything was moved. If it wasn't needed now, that didn't mean it wouldn't be needed later.

Soon, the Shelter's materials became extremely saturated, and the warehouses were completely cleared out to store food.

At the current pace, it would take three months to clear everything. By the 9th day, the Shelter was already filled with cement and rebar for construction. Architectural Expert Lu even mobilized hundreds of concrete mixers, operating simultaneously, and the Underground City's ventilation shafts were also running 24 hours a day.

Everywhere was a scene of bustling activity. The cafeteria began offering unlimited food 24 hours a day, and the price of food dropped by ninety percent due to the abundance of supplies.

However, Ji Ruping, as the manager, strictly enforced the rule against wasting food. Everyone ate their fill, the Shelter's prices were rapidly decreasing, and the points earned for working each day remained unchanged, which was equivalent to a disguised wage increase, making everyone highly motivated.

"Boss, Ji Ruping reports that there's enough food for the Shelter for the next year, and enough materials for the Underground City's progress for over a year. We don't need to transport any more, especially building materials, as there's no more space to store them," Qiu Wuhui's voice came through the earphone.

"Okay, suspend building material transport. Qiu Wuhui, starting today, transport once every ten days. Everyone, fully support the construction of the Underground City."

Qiu Wuhui's affirmative response came through the earphone: "Yes, Boss."

"Zheng Haoyu, how's your drone fleet reconnaissance going? Still no sign of the Corpse King?" Tian Ming asked with some displeasure.

"We've already checked 800 buildings. We haven't sent anyone to check the underground facilities yet, Boss. Our personnel are limited. It might not be possible to clear all zombies within the city in three months."

"Continue the investigation. You can handle small numbers of zombies yourselves. For large numbers of zombies or powerful mutated zombies, be sure to notify me."

"Understood, Boss!"

Tian Ming stood on a tall building in the city outskirts, looking at the clouds in the sky. At that moment, a figure flashed from the edge of the building's rooftop and climbed directly up.